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BD...you speak the truth, as long as the student demonstrates success in those high-level classes. They may or may not be the ones with the greatest ability, but they demonstrate that they are the ones who are willing to challenge themselves most.

Still, in our schools we don't tell students that they either have to take all AP classes or they can't take any AP classes at all. We encourage them to take as many as they can, and we push them to challenge themselves, but we do give them leeway. The prevailing philosophy is that the more high-level, challenging classes a student can take, the more prepared he/she will be for the next level--much like the philosophy supporting the DA. This is tempered by the accompanying philosophy that taking some AP classes is better for the student than taking none, and if we preclude AP students from taking any CP classes, there would be fewer who would be willing to commit to the AP curriculum, and therefore more students who would take no AP classes at all.

My question of the DA has never been whether it has great value to the elite player who wishes to gain admission to the Harvards of the soccer world. Quite obviously, it does. My question is, could the DA find a way to provide more than one option--a 10-month season for those who are fully committed, and a shorter season to provide that same top-level training to some of our potential high-flyers who show great promise, but haven't reached the point in their lives where they are driven to commmit to the exclusion of all else?

Enough devil's advocate for now, as much fun as it is...cards on the table. If having a player who misses his high school season to play full-time in the DA is sad, how much sadder for the sport is it if many more high-potential players are NOT encouraged to even try for that level, because it means they are automatically lost to their school coaches and teammates?



A well written response. Thank you. But you mention sad and sadder....and I just think thats a little overwrought. Stuff happens and kids adjust. Adults tend to obsess about things more than kids do. I wish my son could have played more basketball but the conflict with plain old club soccer messed that up and his school bball career started and ended with 7th grade. He never looked back, never missed a beat.

This may have all been more palatable had USSF merely extended the season and left the HS piece to the individuals involved. But what would have probably happened.....were big chunks of rosters of kids trying to do both and either getting hurt, sick of the sport, or cutting corners on Academy training in order to keep their irons hot enough on the HS end.

10 month Academy is the right thing to do for the talented and motivated kid. Those that are truly torn....will need to make a choice. And thats ok. Some kids will drop out of Academy and invariably one of them will turn into a Jeremy Lin story. And that will be great!!

Kids from Harvard can play in the NBA and kids from non-Academy teams can play in the ACC and/or the MLS.